Episode 9: Reading
Why should reading be a priority for every pastor? How do you incorporate the need to learn and grow this way during seasons of intense busyness and lack of margin? In this episode, Jared Wilson and Ronnie Martin resume their exploration of the pastoral wisdom practices by talking about their own reading histories and habits, and how every pastor ought to invest in his ongoing development and discipline by committing to read.
Interlude: Wisdom Practices of Pastor’s Wives
In this special episode of The Heart of Pastoring, Becky Wilson and Melissa Martin join their husbands to talk about some important rhythms for healthy marriages and healthy ministry partnerships between pastors and their wives. What should pastors know about their wives’ unique perspectives on ministry? What will bless the heart of the pastor’s wife? And how can the pastoral marriage be a source of joy and endurance in the ongoing wisdom practices of the pastor?
Episode 7: Friendship
Why don’t more pastors have friends? Why don’t more enjoy the friendships they do have? In this episode, Jared Wilson and Ronnie Martin discuss the promise and the peril of pastoral friendship. What are the risks involved? Why is it worth it? How is the pursuit of and investment in friendships an oft-neglected (or avoided) wisdom practice?
Episode 6: Discipleship
“Our Lord has given the commission to the church to make disciples. Yet too many pastors spend more time settling for drawing a crowd or “keeping the customers satisfied.” In this episode, Jared Wilson and Ronnie Martin explain the obedience of disciple-making in pastoral ministry and how this practice reflects the wisdom of God, even if not always the concerns of modern religious sensibilities.
“
Episode 5: Sabbath
Most pastors fall into a pattern of overwork. Why is that? And how does sabbath set us free from worldly metrics of productivity? In this episode, Jared Wilson and Ronnie Martin explore the wisdom practice of guilt-free rest and “fasting” from being needed.
Episode 4: Gratitude
How does a pastor lead himself and his congregation in thankfulness? If the Scriptures command us to “give thanks in all things,” how can we embrace that command in even the low and trying moments of ministry? In this episode, Jared Wilson and Ronnie Martin talk about the wisdom practice of gratitude and its all-flavoring help in every day and every season of shepherding.
Episode 3: Silence
Why is sitting still before the Lord important? What are the benefits to our heart, mind, and soul? What are we looking to see happen when we practice it? In this episode Jared Wilson and Ronnie Martin have a penetrating conversation about the increasingly vital need for the wisdom practice of silence in the life of the pastor.
Episode 2: Prayer
The first wisdom practice to explore is prayer. But why do pastors often find it so difficult to practice? And why is it so vital? What are some practical ways to think about prayer so that it comes from a place of delight over duty? In this episode Jared Wilson and Ronnie Martin discuss the crucial rhythm of prayer in the life of the pastor.
Episode 1: Preface
How can pastors practically and devotionally invest in spiritual (and physical) endurance and sustainable faithfulness in ministry? In this new season of Midwestern Seminary’s The Heart of Pastoring, veteran pastors Jared Wilson and Ronnie Martin return to discuss 12 “wisdom practices” important for every ministry leader to adopt as gospel-centered rhythms in their personal and vocational lives. In this preface to the season, Jared and Ronnie survey the evangelical landscape, explore the need for these practices, and set a vision for where this new journey will take us.
Episode 10: Not a New Convert
It doesn’t matter how you start; it’s how you finish that makes the difference. In the season finale of The Heart of Pastoring Podcast, Jared and Ronnie discuss the “why” behind the qualification that pastors not be recent converts, what happens when they are recent converts, and the residual effect on ministers and their churches when there is too much rush of untested men into positions of leadership. Our hosts also take a little stock of their own lives and ministries from their mid-life vantage points and explore what it means to pursue a long track record of faithfulness, a reliable pattern of predictability in ministry, and a good ol’ “veteran-ship” in the faith.